Psalm 95:1-3 (New International Version)

1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. 3 For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

Do you like to sing? Many of us will answer that question with a “yes”. Martin Luther viewed music as one of God’s greatest gifts to us. There are some who do not like singing. I’ve even heard individuals who are so negative about it that they aren’t sure they will enjoy heaven because of the descriptions we have of singing before God’s throne there. Yet even many of those will belt out some phrases in the shower, while driving and listening to the radio, or when great things happen. Even if you aren’t a good singer, you can follow the instruction to “shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.” So today we follow the psalm writer in encouraging

SING FOR JOY TO THE LORD

I. He is great in His being

II. He is great in His doing

When we think about God’s being, His unique person comes to mind. We know the Lord as triune in nature, three in one. But He is not three gods. He is one God made up of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, each person eternal and sharing all the qualities we associate with God, such as almighty, all-knowing, and merciful.

This Christmas event draws our attention to the Son who became man: Jesus, the God- man, one person with two natures, divine and human. He is both God from eternity and man from the moment of His miraculous conception by the power of the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary. We marvel at how it all came to be. It is above our power to comprehend.

We also rejoice in the “why” of Christmas, that Jesus came to us in His love. He was exactly what we needed—man to be under divine law and be able to die; God so that in His life and death He could serve as the substitute for the entire human race.

Our God is great in His rank. David described Him as “the great King above all gods.” He is number one. There is no one above Him. He reigns supreme. He has no real rivals because all others worshiped as gods don’t really exist. They are the products of human imagination so can do nothing for anyone. Recognize that position. Acknowledge Him as the one upon whom you depend and treat Him as He deserves.

II.

God’s unique person took action so He is great in His doing as well as His being. His work was reflected in His name. We sing for joy to the LORD. That capitalized title is the special name God gave to Himself for Moses to use in identifying Him to the Israelites when he came to lead them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The name expresses His absolute independence of being and that He is eternal and unchangeable. God used that special name when He took action for His people or gave promises to them. It expresses His grace or undeserved love for us and His faithfulness to those promises.

Such characteristics were demonstrated in the actions He took for us. The psalm calls Him “the Rock of our salvation”. He is a solid, dependable, firm and sure basis for our trust. We can rely on Him absolutely.

He brings about our salvation. That is the greatest gift we could receive. He provided the rescue from sin and hell that we needed and that our sins deserved. He came to this world to die in order to provide that gift. From Him we have forgiveness, peace with God and the future glory of heaven.

No wonder we praise God and are glad to come before Him. The children will lead us today in doing so. Their work is called a cantata, a musical composition to praise God. The great composer Bach wrote hundreds of cantatas to lead in worship. The term came to denote a musical selection in which the entire message is sung or played. That is what we will hear today.

Whether you are singing, playing an instrument or listening, we pray the Spirit will open your heart to the Lord whose birth we are celebrating and you will experience an encounter with the living God who came to the world to save you and me and everyone else.

So students, you don’t have to shout, but lead us now loudly and clearly to sing for joy to the Lord.